This invention relates generally to evaluating the quality of a content publisher, and particularly to evaluating the likelihood of a group of users interacting with content items featured on the content publisher.
Publishers provide content for users to consume in an interactive system. Such interactive systems may be websites, games, applications, or other electronic interactive systems of interest to a user. When providing the content to users, a publisher may develop a layout or other interactive flow in which the user interacts with the publisher. Within the layout, the publisher may provide a slot for content selected by another system or for placement of sponsored content provided by a third party system. Content is selected based on a bidding process in which third party systems provide a value contribution in exchange for placing their sponsored content within the slot provided by the publisher.
Third party value contribution is based on criteria associated with a particular sponsored content campaign initiated by a third party. Typically, the criteria indicate parameters such as targeting criteria, sponsored content type, slot type, value contribution amount, and the like. A given sponsored content campaign is selected when the criteria match with that specified by the publisher. Typically a user's interaction with the content placed in a slot is beneficial for the publisher, for example to encourage the user to take a behavior related to the content selected for the slot. The behavior may directly or indirectly benefit the publisher. However, third parties providing the content typically have lacked the tools to evaluate the quality of the publisher on which their content is placed. Rather, one value contribution amount is applied across all publishers that feature slots in which content will be placed, regardless of the amount of user traffic a publisher generates or the likelihood that a user will interact with the content.